Marxist theory could not theorize nationalism and so evaded it

Evidence

It would be more exact to say that nationalism has proved an uncomfortable anomaly for Marxist theory and, precisely for that reason, has been largely elided, rather than confronted. How else to explain Marx’s failure to explicate the crucial adjective in his memorable formulation of 1848: ‘The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie’? How else to account for the use, for over a century, of the concept ‘national bourgeoisie’ without any serious attempt to justify theoretically the relevance of the adjective? Why is this segmentation of the bourgeoisie – a world-class insofar as it is defined in terms of the relations of production – theoretically significant? — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 33

Categorization

• XREF: Parallel to how dominant frameworks (liberal universalism, Marxism) elide what they cannot explain — the same elision Islamophobia scholars argue afflicts mainstream theory about religion and race. — connects to: Postcolonial thinkers had to deconstruct Eurocentric prejudices within Marxism itself; Preventing nationalist war requires abandoning the myth that Marxism resists nationalism — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 629; Marxism’s dismissal of culture left it unequipped for nationalism (+3 more)

Related

• Preventing nationalist war requires abandoning the myth that Marxism resists nationalism (similarity 0.87)
• Marxist theory underestimated nationalism due to a flawed grasp of capitalism’s depth. (similarity 0.84)
• Marxist theory viewed nations as instruments of the bourgeoisie. (similarity 0.81)
• Nationalism must be read against prior cultural systems, not political ideologies (similarity 0.81)
• Externalizing socialist practice leaves nationalism as the only conceptual frame available (similarity 0.80)
• Marxism’s economism forced the conclusion that nationalism was a backward, diversionary ideology. (similarity 0.80)
• Ethnic nationalism within the party defeated Americanizing Marxism (similarity 0.80)
• Marxism failed to comprehend nationalism, consciousness, racism, and Black history (similarity 0.79)
• Material interests and Enlightenment ideas alone could not shape nationalist imagined communities. (similarity 0.79)
• Marxist theory could not logically class American Blacks as a nation (similarity 0.79)
• Marx’s own theory anticipated its eventual negation as historical ideology (similarity 0.79)
• Marx’s theory demanded categories that excluded race, gender, and non-European history (similarity 0.79)
• Rejecting Marxism reframed colonial conflict as nations and culture, not classes and capital (similarity 0.79)
• Marx’s theories of democracy and nation formed in response to the 1848-49 defeats (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Marxism’s dismissal of culture left it unequipped for nationalism #corroborates (0.95)
• Marxism failed to comprehend nationalism, consciousness, racism, and Black history #expands (0.90)